![]() |
What would happen if you strapped a buttered piece of toast to a cat will the cat keep revolving in mid air because it wants to land on its feet and the toast wants to land butter side down? |
[Edit] |
The cat will land on its feet. Logically speaking, the toast is already anchored to the cat, and so it has no need or desire to land anyplace. It is a blessing that this keeps the cat from eternal mid-air revolutions no matter what side of the toast is facing the cat. If the buttered side is cat-side, then the toast's experience is that it has already fallen and has landed properly. Many of the laws of physics have this beautiful kind of symmetry.
The "flip-side" is that if this symmetry were not present in the laws of buttered-toast physics, then we would have an infinite source of energy in the form of revolving cats.
First answer by Emdrgreg. Last edit by Emdrgreg. Contributor trust: 815 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 2 [recommend question]




